Left in the lurch by airline’s licence loss

I booked a return flight from Gatwick to Johannesburg last November through Travelbag. The day before my return, the South Africa-based airline, Nationwide, lost its licence to fly.

After seeing this story on the news, I called Nationwide, which said it would not be arranging any alternative flights and that I should find my own way home using another airline. The agent said I would be reimbursed for any extra cost. I spoke to her three times and she was quite clear about this.

I also spoke to Travelbag that day and was told I should get the name of the person I had spoken to at Nationwide. Fortunately I was able to buy an Air France ticket for £686.

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When I approached the Nationwide desk at Johannesburg to produce the proof and obtain a refund, I was told that they would only be refunding the original ticket cost of £252 for the return leg. Travelbag has since been trying to secure a refund but I have received nothing yet.

Gill Charlton replies

The irony is that if Nationwide had gone bust you would have received a refund of the Air France ticket, as your booking included airline failure protection insurance. But in this case, the airline was only grounded.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority suspended its operations for several weeks because it was unhappy with aspects of its maintenance programme. (New airlines flying UK-South Africa routes do seem to have problems with CAA licences and this is not the first time this has happened to an airline on this route.)

If you had bought a package holiday to South Africa through Travelbag, the company would have been liable for the actions of its suppliers and would have had to find a way of getting you home without your incurring extra expense. Because you only made a flight booking, Travelbag was acting as a booking agent. This means that, while it should help you to obtain a refund of your unused Nationwide ticket, it has no further liability.

I understand that you have now received a refund of £252.90, which is half the cost of the original flight. Travelbag says that it advised you to get the offer of a refund for the new flight in writing from Nationwide but you were not able to do this.

"Had Mr Stevenson got written proof from the Nationwide representative at the time then we would have been able to fight for more of a refund," said a Travelbag spokeswoman. "Without this, the airline will not pay anything more."

I think Travelbag has done its best to prod the airline. This is yet another case where panicking local agents, beset by stranded passengers, will say anything to calm them and get them to go away. In situations like this only written proof has any chance of securing a promised refund or flight vouchers.

Who pays for the taxi?

Alice Ortner, London, writes

On December 29 last year, realising that my delayed flight from Gatwick would be landing 90 minutes late in Geneva and that I would miss the last bus of the day to my French ski resort, I rang easyJet's call centre.

I was told that because of the delay the airline would pay for a taxi to my destination. This cost 450 Swiss francs (£225) but easyJet has, so far, refused to reimburse me. Does the airline not have an obligation to stand by the word of its employee?

Gill Charlton replies

Airlines are not responsible for what's called "consequential losses" which are due to flight delays, whatever the reason. This is made clear in the airline's terms and conditions which say that, while the airline will try to keep to its schedule, flight times are not guaranteed and do not form part of its contract with the passenger.

I have spoken to easyJet, which says it believes there must have been a misunderstanding in your conversation with the call centre.

"We would not refund onward travel following a delay of 90 minutes, or for such a large amount," said easyJet's spokeswoman. Taxi refunds are only given for amounts up to £7 for "pre-flight transport" to a hotel if a flight is delayed for more than two hours overnight.

The reality is that no airline will pay such an expense, even if the delay was much longer, and there is no legal requirement for them to do so. If airlines had to pay out these sorts of sums for taxi fares due to the late arrival of flights, many would be well on the way to insolvency.

This ruling also applies when flights arrive back late at British airports. If public transport services have closed down and passengers are forced to take taxis or stay overnight in airport hotels, airlines are not liable for these extra costs.

Ticketing saga

Stewart Lothian, Newcastle

My wife and I are due to travel to South Africa on a Saga tour, leaving on April 12, and I have today [Monday, April 7] been telephoned by Saga to say that our air tickets have not yet been issued and that the company will contact me on Thursday (two days before we travel) to let me know when they will arrive.

We have been chasing the tickets for the past week and have not been given any coherent reason for the delay in issuing them. Should we be worried?

Gill Charlton

I contacted Saga to find out why it was delivering your travel documents so late in the day.

"We have recently introduced a new reservations system and encountered some operational issues with a small number of customers whose documents have been delayed," said a spokeswoman. "We aim to send travel documents a week prior to departure and we are working hard to ensure these guidelines are met."

I understand that your travel documents were delivered on April 9 using guaranteed delivery post.

Tokens for trolleys

John Davies, Lancaster, writes

Your correspondent who had no £1 coins with which to unlock a luggage trolley at Gatwick Airport might like to know that many charities sell "trolley tokens". These are identical in size to a £1 coin and bear the name of the charity, or some sort of symbol, and have a clip so they can be hung from a keyring.

They can be bought in charity shops or over the internet - just key "trolley token" into a search engine and add the name of your favourite charity to find out if they will sell you one.

Gill Charlton replies

My thanks to Mr Davies and other readers for this advice. I should also like to point out that the £1 coin, or token, is given back when the trolley is returned to a stand, in a similar way to trolley-release systems in supermarkets.

However, the news is not so good for foreign visitors to Britain. Dai Rees of Cobham, Kent reports that all the £1 coin change machines in the North Terminal at Gatwick were broken last Sunday when he arrived on a flight from Faro.

"What a poor introduction to Britain, thanks to BAA," said Mr Rees. "We saw many foreigners looking for a way to get change for a trolley, mostly to no avail."